In an under-achieving and worrying economy, there has been one clear success. The statistics are impressive from every angle. Last year, 29.88 million tourists put 2.21 trillion baht into the economy.

The minister of Tourism and Sports said she expects that will go up to 32 million people and 2.3 trillion baht this year. Thailand is in the world's top 10 countries for foreign tourist arrivals, and Bangkok is the world's single most visited city.

In my, albeit anecdotal, experience when traveling around Thailand, it feels that there are far fewer tourists than a few years ago. It may well only be a false perception as there are certainly far more Chinese tourists, especially in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, who don't stand out from the crowd as much as non-asians, but there seems to be a general feeling that many tourist related businesses are struggling.

Of course, you can present statistics any way you want...especially when you are the one producing them.